Idan Amedi’s near-death experience: ‘We were covered in blood,’ commander reveals in exclusive interview

“‘We’ve been hit!’ Guy shouted and bolted outside,” Turgeman writes. “Everything was gray—an apocalyptic cloud of destruction and death obscured all visibility. A massive crater gaped in the ground. Shagai (Idan Amedi) lay sprawled across me. Neither of us moved. We were smeared with soot and drenched in blood.” Speaking in an exclusive interview on March 17, 2025, Turgeman, Amedi’s commander, revisits the January 8 incident that left six soldiers dead and both men gravely injured, offering a raw, firsthand account of one of the war’s most unforgettable episodes.

The chaos unfolded in Al-Bureij camp as their recon unit, dubbed “Asterisk 3600,” targeted Hamas tunnels. A tank shell struck a power pole, igniting explosives they’d set. “Zini flipped Shagai off me, slapped my face, and sighed when I gasped for air,” Turgeman recalls. “He yelled for a tourniquet.” Six comrades—Gabriel Blum, Akiva Yasinsky, Amit Shahar, Denis Kruchmalov Veksler, Ron Efrimi, and Roi Avraham Maimon—didn’t survive. Turgeman and Amedi, bloodied and battered, did.

The book, penned during weeks of grueling recovery, began as a personal purge. “My wife said, ‘Write it down, or you’ll forget—what’ll you tell the kids in 20 years?’” Turgeman explains. “I forced myself through the pain, then got hooked in rehab at Bnei Zion Hospital, writing seven or eight hours a day.” Edited amid Lebanon fighting, with handwritten notes scribbled during lulls, it’s more than a war log—it’s a lament for a home front that’s lost its fire. “The embrace we felt in Gaza has faded,” he says. “Reality TV airs while soldiers die. ‘Together we’ll win’ isn’t enough anymore.”

From October 7, when his unit scrambled to Kibbutz Metzuba, to Gaza’s battlegrounds—Shifa Hospital, Shuja’iyya, Marwan Issa’s HQ—Turgeman’s tale is relentless. Amedi, known as “Shagai” from *Fauda* at his request, joined in Shuja’iyya, a fearless fighter Turgeman trusted implicitly. Their shared brush with death binds the narrative, but Turgeman’s call is broader: Israel’s spirit must reignite, or the sacrifices will echo in vain.